Dancing Fiddle Tune Trios for Strings

These 51 dance tunes from around the globe feature hornpipes, jigs, polkas, reels, two-steps, and waltzes, with chord symbols included for your guitarist, autoharpist, pianist, etc. There are also helpful hints on how to practice and play the tunes in a danceable fashion.

The “A” parts have the melody all the time, and can be used as a solo. The “B” parts include a lot of fancy harmonies, and twinning techniques. The “C” parts are more rhythmic and accompanimental in nature.
The bowings indicated work well for me, but might not work well for you, so keep your pencil at the ready to make the bowings more fun and appropriate for your situation.

As for the tempos, let your feet be your guides. Pretend that your fingers are itty-bitty feet, and let them dance, dance, dance!

This collection is an expansion of the tunes in Greenblatt & Seay Publications’ “The Dancing Fiddler’s Tune Books” (no longer available) to better conform to the other collections in the “Trios for Strings” series.

Build a trio by selecting an A part, a B part, and a C part
in the clef that each musician prefers...

Reviews...

“In a similar vein to Welsh Fiddle Tunes for Two Violins, Greenblatt has compiled and arranged a volume of hornpipes, jigs, polkas and waltzes. This time the arrangements are for various combinations of string trio. Nine individual parts have been published. The three musical lines, A solo, B harmonic and C rhythm or accompaniment, are for violin, viola and cello. Thus one can use the set as a traditional violin, viola and cello string trio or any other combination covering parts A, B and C. Of course, one could double the parts as well, e.g. Violin B doubling viola in the harmonica line.

Program notes inform us of the interesting and varied origins of the tunes from all over the world, including the USA, Mexico, Ireland, Sweden, Hungary and Ukraine. There are helpful hints on how to play the pieces and chords symbols which enable a guitarist or keyboard player to join in. These arrangements are a very valuable resource for a first-time ensemble experience, for a small group or a string orchestra.”

“This trio of books presents 51 tunes in three--part harmony, each part contained in its own volume. All tunes are in the same order in each spiral-bound volume. The wide range of tunes draws from standard old time and Celtic pieces to tunes from varied traditions. The first volume is the melody in standard notation, the second volume is the harmony line for the second fiddle, and the third is for the accompaniment or backup fiddle. This volume has the third fiddle play a note or double stops in more rhythmic patterns. Weaving the three parts together will fill the room with a rich sound. You could also use the first book to learn the tunes and the other volumes to analyze how to play the harmony and backup fiddle parts. This set of books makes for an interesting concept. Each volume has the same chords for each tune and a section in the back with information about each tune.”